Multi-source localization in reverberant environments (original) (raw)

Multi-source localization in reverberant environments by ROOT-MUSIC and clustering

2000 IEEE International Conference on Acoustics, Speech, and Signal Processing. Proceedings (Cat. No.00CH37100), 2000

Localization of acoustic sources in reverberant environments by microphone arrays remains a challenging task in audio signal processing. As a matter of fact, most assumptions of commonly adopted models are not met in real applications. Moreover, in practical systems it is not convenient or possible to employ sophisticated and costly architectures, that require precise synchronization and fast data shuffling among sensors.

A clustering approach to multi-source localization in reverberant rooms

Proceedings of the 2000 IEEE Sensor Array and Multichannel Signal Processing Workshop. SAM 2000 (Cat. No.00EX410), 2000

Among the appealing features of the proposed approach are the capability of tracking multiple speakers simultaneously and the high accuracy of the closed form TDOA estimator.

Efficient source localization and tracking in reverberant environments using microphone arrays

2005

Abstract In this paper, we propose an algorithm for acoustic source localization and tracking that is suitable for reverberant environments. The approach that we propose is based on the iterative identification of the FIR channels that link source and microphones through an LMS method (multi-channel LMS), but we propose additional solutions that significantly improve this method in terms of computational efficiency and localization reliability, without affecting its convergence properties.

Analysis of room reverberation effects in source localization using small microphone arrays

2010 4th International Symposium on Communications, Control and Signal Processing (ISCCSP), 2010

Small microphone arrays provide many advantages for real-world audio applications. Together with digital signal processing, their enhanced acoustic properties can be exploited in many speech processing systems, such as hands-free devices, videoconferencing or hearing aids. Among their classical applications is source localization, which is usually based on the estimation of Time-Differences-Of-Arrival (TDOA). The accuracy of these methods depends on the degree of reverberation, due to the increased variance found in TDOA estimates. In this paper, we characterize reverberation in a room by means of a small threemicrophone array. Our experiments show that the directional distribution of time-frequency estimates is highly correlated with the room's reverberation. This correlation results in a model that can be very useful for both estimating reverberation time and setting the resolution achievable in source localization tasks.

Experimental evaluation of a localization algorithm for multiple acoustic sources in reverberating environments

Proc. Eur. Signal Processing Conf.(EUSIPCO), Florence, Italy, 2006

The problem of blind separation of multiple acoustic sources has been recently addressed by the TRINICON framework. By exploiting higher order statistics, it allows to successfully separate acoustic sources when propagation takes place in a reverberating environment. In this paper we apply TRINICON to the problem of source localization, emphasizing the fact that it is possible to achieve small localization errors also when source separation is not perfectly obtained. Extensive simulations have been carried out in order ...

Source Localization in Reverberant Environments by Consistent Peak Selection

2007 IEEE International Conference on Acoustics, Speech and Signal Processing - ICASSP '07, 2007

Acoustic source localization in the presence of reverberation is a dif cult task. Conventional approaches, based on time delay estimation performed by generalized cross correlation (GCC) on a set of microphone pairs, followed by geometric triangulation, are often unsatisfactory. Pre ltering is usually adopted to reduce the spurious peaks due to re ections.

Localization of Directional Sound Sources Supported by A Priori Information of the Acoustic Environment

EURASIP Journal on Advances in Signal Processing, 2007

Speaker localization with microphone arrays has received significant attention in the past decade as a means for automated speaker tracking of individuals in a closed space for videoconferencing systems, directed speech capture systems, and surveillance systems. Traditional techniques are based on estimating the relative time difference of arrivals (TDOA) between different channels, by utilizing crosscorrelation function. As we show in the context of speaker localization, these estimates yield poor results, due to the joint effect of reverberation and the directivity of sound sources. In this paper, we present a novel method that utilizes a priori acoustic information of the monitored region, which makes it possible to localize directional sound sources by taking the effect of reverberation into account. The proposed method shows significant improvement of performance compared with traditional methods in "noise-free" condition. Further work is required to extend its capabilities to noisy environments.

Improved TDOA disambiguation techniques for sound source localization in reverberant environments

Proceedings of 2010 IEEE International Symposium on Circuits and Systems, 2010

Given a single sound source in a non reverberant environment, an estimate of the Time Difference Of Arrival (TDOA) between microphones can be obtained by observing the time value at which the cross correlation of the two microphone signals displays a maximum. In the presence of reverberation, however, the cross correlation function displays a great number of local maxima caused by reflected signals blending unpredictably. This results in TDOA estimation ambiguity, making correct source localization impossile. The aim of this work is to present an improved disambiguation algorithm and compare it to existing algorithms in terms of estimation accuracy and processing time.

A bss-based approach for localization of simultaneous speakers in reverberant conditions

In this paper, we address the localization of simultaneous speakers by means of Blind Source Separation (BSS) based algorithms. Considering BSS demixing filters as some blind null beamformer and producing an acoustical map from them, source localization can be achieved by identifying the local minima of this acoustical map. To improve the performance of this method in reverberant environments, we have proposed to replace the demixing filter with one, corresponding to the direct path only. This is done by keeping only the largest coefficient in each demixing filter and neglecting the other coefficients. Besides, the proposed method reduces the computational complexity. To further improve the computational efficiency of the localization method, we have also proposed the limitation of the frequency range within averaging procedure. The experimental results demonstrate improved accuracy and efficiency of the proposed method in the localization of multiple simultaneous sound sources in reverberant environments.